Modem phone networks provide for the identification and logging of phone calls made across the network. The information available about these phone calls includes the date and time of the call, the duration of the call, the dialed number and the number placing the call, and the names and addresses of the persons or businesses associated with these numbers. This information can be logged in a personal computer, a private branch exchange (PBX), Centrex equipment, or a database connected to a network such as a service provider network or a TCP/IP type computer network. Most of this information is typically not made available to the general public but is used for the purposes of Call Detail Reporting, to monitor phone usage, and to provide for customer billing.
Some of such information, for example the number originating the phone call, can be displayed at the dialed number on the Customer Premises Equipment (CPE). The CPE displays the number placing the call and logs a record of that number locally along with the date and time of that call. Some services may also display the name of the subscriber assigned to the originating number. Personal computers connected to services such as Asynchronous Digital Subscriber Lines (ASDL) can also create logs of received calls that are resident locally in these computers or logged in the network. In either example, however, a person must be at the CPE or personal computer to view these received call logs and typically manually re-enters the originating numbers to return missed calls or to save the contents of the call log.
Modern telephone services utilizing Internet Protocol (IP) phone service, such as is available with ASDL, provide added functionality over conventional wire line type phones. In particular, IP phones can alert a subscriber to an incoming or waiting call using “pop-up” style on-screen windows. The user can then choose whether or not to answer the call. In addition, such services provide for the logging of phone calls into a call log associated with an IP phone number. The subscriber can then access and review the call log. Examples of such services can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,282,275 and 6,353,611. The use of the information contained in these call logs, however, has been quite limited. Moreover, the call logs are stand alone applications and are not integrated with other computer based programs located at a subscriber's premises.
Therefore, a method is desired to provide increased utilization and functionality of a telephone call log. Such increased utilization would include integration with other computer based communication and address book programs for storage and retrieval of call log information, and use of that information to contact call log entries.